In the silence, he paced in front of two beds that made up the bulk of his and Jayden's room. The soft thumping of tabi feet sounded as his heels connected with the tatami.
His mind was in turmoil and it wouldn't straighten out. He'd finally retreated to his room for privacy, but the noise of the backyard filtered through the open door and his parents' room across the hall.
He didn't understand it. What could be so hard about such a simple request? And why was he letting it get to him so much and not agreeing with her comply?
Solemn brown speared a second glance at the desk where the letter lay, before he whipped around in another circle. He couldn't believe her need for secrecy, nor could he figure out reasons for what seemed like such a dire, mysterious explanation. Trying to figure out just what she was hiding in her past was driving him nuts the most.
'Gods, what if it's illegal?? Could she have killed someone and just not want to talk about it?' He stopped and disbelieving wide eyes stared at the white wall of his room. 'Could it deal with drugs?? Or - oh shit - prostitution?!' His bangs swished from a harsh shake of his head, ever-present braid slapping his cheeks.
No...not K! She didn't seem like the type to get into selling her body or drugs...OR killing anyone for that matter!
He resumed pacing.
'Then what the hell IS it?? If it's not illegal - which I HIGHLY doubt! - I don't see what the big deal is! Why won't she just TELL me?? What is so HORRIBLE that she can't even confide in me? Doesn't she trust me at ALL?' He wanted to know...he wanted to know BADLY. Her asking him not to ask - almost pleading he thought - just put wood to the fire. Now he wanted to know even more than before, and he found himself fighting to give her what she wanted and never bring it up again.
But she sounded so PAINED... Almost depressed.
Hands covered his face as he sighed and tried to figure out what he should do. Letting it go was no big deal...except he really wanted to know. He wanted to know what made up this girl called his friend. After all, how could he be friends with someone he didn't even know?
He talked about himself easily because he feared nothing when it came to his life. He grew up with a large family who owned their own business, shared a room with his sister, dated a lot of girls since middle school, had a small group of close-knit friends since middle school, held a job, and had plans to marry in the future when he met the right one.
His life in a nutshell...it was boring enough with nothing exciting to fill it in.
Well...there was ONE thing...but it wasn't anything he'd tell even his best friends without getting labeled a freak. No one outside the family knew about THAT little...episode and not even Jayden breathed a word to anyone.
He sighed, hands dropping. He was at a stalemate. With that one coveted instance, he could see why K would guard her past, but not to the extent to which she wouldn't give ANY of it away! He had a feeling if he asked about the better parts, or something during her high school years, she would rebuff him again with the same emotional response.
A hand went to his forehead. This was going to give him a headache...
The door nearly banged against the wall, and he practically jumped out of his skin. It would have left a dent, if Jayden's hand hadn't whipped out and grabbed it before then. "Damn it nee-chan!" He growled, a hand over his heart. "Don't DO that!"
"HERE you are!" She retorted, scowling. Tabi feet marched in and stopped in front of him. Without warning, a hand whipped out, grabbed the shoulder blade-length braid, and gave it a yank. "Okaasan and obaasan wanted to know where you'd run off to and made me look for you!" She gave the ebony locks another yank, feeling satisfaction at his pained, indignant cry. "You should've stayed with everyone else! I WAS spending time with Chad!"
"In public?" He kidded, trying to get her hand away from his precious braid. An evil smirk appeared when she gained a suspicious look. "Isn't that indecent?"
Jayden's cheeks reddened at his innuendo, but she slapped a shoulder. "MOU!" She growled, leaning closer. "You hentai! Get those thoughts out of your head! Sheesh, you just said that because you haven't had a woman in a while, have you??"
For blushing over the intimate implications he just pinned her with, Jayden was sure blunt when it came to sex... His face warmed a little, even though they picked on each other over that topic as well. Why he should be embarrassed about not having slept with a girl in front of his sister was beyond him. It wouldn't have been so bad if he was getting that statement from one of the guys...
"Mou...baka." He muttered, stepping away. Arms crossed over the bulky sleeves of his kimono.
"Anyway," A hand waved between them, "get your butt back downstairs so okaasan and obaasan will stop asking where you are. Some of the neighbors wanted to chat and they'll keep asking where you are, and so will the others. So get going."
He really wasn't looking forward to talking with over three dozen of their neighbors right now...and looking forward to playing part of the host even less. But his oya and sofubo suggested having a cookout to celebrate the spirit of Chichibuyo Matsuri, though they didn't hold the festivals anymore. The backyard area was strung up with colorful Japanese lanterns that they kept in storage. The grill had been working since two and now it was ten...with four dozen people or so wandering the backyard.
His face scrunched up in a less than happy pose. "Do I HAVE to?" He whined.
Jayden reached out and yanked his braid again. "YES. We didn't dress up in traditional clothing - with me wearing this damn immovable furisode - for NOTHING!"
Brown looked to the light lime green fabric sprinkled with small blue and red flowers. He smirked at seeing the dark blue obi covering a good portion of her ribcage and stomach. "Must suck to be an onna, ne?" He kidded, pulling away when her hand moved for his hair. "Leave my hair ALONE!" He glared.
"Then MOVE. If you don't want to spend the whole night around just the neighbors, invite your friends! I'm sure they wouldn't mind free food, even if they don't celebrate these holidays."
He humphed, but the idea was a good one. When was the last time he hung out with the guys? "If I do, will you leave me alone the rest of the night??"
She gave a disdainful sniff. "Why would I want to spend anymore time around you in the house than I have to when Chad's here?"
He scowled, but made a mental note if any of the musketeers came over to ruin her time for that retort. "Fine then. Out of my way."
Jayden glared at that. With sudden a passive look, an arm grandly swept to the door as she bowed. As he passed, wickedness crossed through her face and a hand shot to the back hakama ties...yanking upward right where she knew the fundoshi ties would be.
"AAHH, KORA!!" He squirmed and tried to dislodge some of the pain. "ONNA!" He growled, looking over his shoulder.
Jayden smirked. "Serves you right ototo." Equal brown hardened to a stony glare. "Don't EVER order me around." She shouldered past and nearly bumped him to the floor before heading down the hall.
Now alone to fix everything better, he shut the door and untied his hakama. He quickly undid the warped fundoshi and retied it the way it was, feeling better and vowing revenge for something so twisted. 'If she didn't get some of her ideas from me for pranks, I'd wonder where the hell she gets those sadistic thoughts from. She is NOT getting away with that one - no one messes with the manliness of Yamoi Inaki and gets away unscathed!' A malicious smile appeared as he headed directly for the cordless phone, taking it into the basement for privacy.
The four musketeers were needed in a mission of this necessity.
Though they had nothing to do with it, Chass, Kelar, and Robert had no qualms when it came to helping him pull pranks at WHOEVER was the target. He was just as bad.
"Hello? Kelar speaking."
"Yo buddy, you free right now?"
"Not a damn thing going on Inaki. What's up?"
"Chichibuyo Matsuri."
"English...please?"
He snorted. "It's a festival we're kind of celebrating. The neighborhood is over and there's a rather large buffet. Oh and I need you for revenge pranks. Interested?"
"Free food and terrorizing the populace? Always, what's up?"
He grinned and relayed a few thoughts he had, plus the reasons behind them, getting the second musketeer to join his cause. "Call Rob and tell him to come over. I'll get Chass over here and then we can have some fun."
"Can't wait buddy. This is going to be good."
The two hung up and ten minutes later, he had the cordless back where it was and gave a sudden look to his clothes when a thought struck. None of the three were Japanese and therefore didn't celebrate any of his holidays. So they'd never seen him in ancestral clothing. A grin sprouted. This was going to be funny as hell when they arrived and saw everyone dressed up like in those hokey samurai movies. What he wouldn't give for a camera in twenty-five minutes.
Just as he stopped at the edge of the porch screen, his hisofusan wandered in eyesight with his otousan, both in some of their better hakama and kimono. His hisofusan had on a nice-looking haori while his father had a michiyuki that matched his clothes. He fit right in with his hakama and kimono, the haori he took off upon entering the house resting on the table behind him.
He resisted the urge to snicker. Everyone in this yard dressed up in traditional clothing, save for Chad who wasn't Japanese. His friends were going to stick out like a sore thumb.
"Oi, magomusuko...can you come here for a second?"
He relented and made his way through the throngs littering the engawa. He had a few minutes to kill, but he wanted to goose the three when they showed up! Some fifteen, twenty minutes later, having lost track of time, he was still helping his obaasan as she was preparing a few things to cook and couldn't lift them all.
A second ring to the doorbell sounded throughout some of the house, dulled the second it got to the back engawa.
"Why do you think he's not answering?"
"Hell if I know...he said to come over for pranking."
"At least we know someone's here with all the noise..."
Lights of the backyard floated into the night when they approached in Kelar's car. They knew of Inaki's heritage and therefore didn't want to be rude and just walk around. Who knew what his grandparents or great grandparents would say about that. NO ONE wanted the eagle eye of Inaki's grandmother!
Robert nibbled on his lip and rang the bell again, hearing noise come to the front. "I say screw standing out front and let's just go out back."
"Honey, that's not nice...we shouldn't be so rude. You'd embarrass all of us if you did that." Jolette answered.
Robert looked to his girlfriend as she patted his arm. She was sprinkled with Japanese characteristics and held some of the faith, but not to the amount that Inaki did.
Suddenly the inside door swung open and all four blinked in shock at the vision that presented herself. "Konban wa. Anata-tachi wa...?"
They stepped back when the screen door swung out, peculiar socks peeking out from under a very colorful kimono adorning a middle-aged woman. This was NOT anyone from Inaki's family! They all knew his family from visits, and this woman was NOT part of the household! This was the right house...so what was going ON??
Jolette took the initiative since she was the only one with a real clue. The others knew some Japanese, but they lived in the more English sections of the city and didn't bother to learn other than the bottom-of-the-barrel basics. She gave a small, quick bow and smiled. "Konban wa. Watashi wa Jolette desu. Is Yamoi Inaki-san here?"
"Ah, Yamoi-chan... Yes, please come in, but carry your shoes with you." Rob, Chass, and Kelar exchanged looks but did as told. When they passed the porch door, they were allowed to put their shoes on and the woman started walking away. "Inaki-chan?? Anata-tachi no tomadachi wa koko desu!"
The four took in the mass amount of traditional clothing, Jolette the only not really fazed. "If I'd have known everyone was going to dress up, I'd have brought a furisode of my own."
"Oi! Minna!" Four pairs of eyes swung over to a loud voice and the three guys blinked at seeing Inaki in similar dress.
"Yo dude, what's up with the threads??"
He stopped and grinned, wishing he had that camera! He did a quick circle, letting the guys check out his clothes for the first time. "Like?" A thumb jerked to everything behind him. "It's a festival. We ALWAYS dress up for the holidays. It gives us an excuse."
Jolette smiled and patted his arm. "Well you look very nice Inaki-san."
Brown blinked in shock. "Jolette-san? What're YOU doing here??"
Rob gained his attention. "She was at my house when Kelar called and asked if she could come because she hadn't in a while and wanted to celebrate too. I didn't see the problem."
Kelar grinned. "Yea, we can ditch her with the local natives and go pick on your sister." Kelar was promptly elbowed by Jolette and smacked by Robert defending his girl.
Jolette sighed. "As tactless as you are Kelar, I do agree with your statement. I don't like picking on Jayden-san so I'll busy myself with talking to your oya, Inaki-san."
He nodded and a hand absently waved. "They're around here somewhere. I think okaasan had on a bright orange kimono and otousan had on blue and orange."
"Just don't go warning his sister what we're going to do!" Chass retorted.
Jolette slapped Chass's shoulder, but nodded to Inaki and headed off with a smile.
The three converged on him. "Why the HELL didn't you TELL us people would be dressed like this?! I feel like a moron in my own clothes!" Rob hissed, glaring.
"Ditto man."
He shrugged, trying not to smile. "Oi, I forgot to mention it until I hung up with Kelar. Just be grateful this is not an everyday occurrence."
"I think we'd have to pick on you even more if that happened." His hand shot out and cuffed Kelar on the shoulder. "Hey! Everyone is against me... That's harassment and I don't have to take it!"
"Bakaro uresai... Mou." He muttered, turning to scan for his sister.
"I know you're in your cultural zone right now dude, but let's keep it to English, okay? We won't get the plan if you spout it all in Japanese."
He smirked and cast a sideways glance. "Nanto kimi hanashimasu..."
Chass groaned. "Great...just GREAT."
After a few more jabs to annoy his friends, they finally located his sister and snuck around with some of the first plans. It'd been a waste to ruin such good food, but with the look on Jayden's face when she stuck the sushi in her mouth he was REALLY wishing he had that camera! It was also bad to waste good green tea - and ANY tea for that matter... - but again it was worth it to see her spit it out from the vinegar they laced it with.
The only bad part about all that was Jayden eventually pinned them after they hid behind her and Chad in the bushes, making loud kissy noises to embarrass the two. That botched badly...partially because Jayden practically tore her nice furisode running after them, and also because she vowed revenge for such blatant embarrassment if it was the last thing she did.
"Man...she sure can run with only a foot to work with!"
"Your sister is RUTHLESS dude."
He flopped onto the wood floor of the dark dojo, having locked his sister out when they retreated inside. Jayden left promptly after a few poundings and yelling. He was safe as long as she couldn't pry the door open. No matter how pissed she was at anything he did to her, she wouldn't destroy property just to get her hands on him.
The noise outside populated the quiet just enough to make it comfortable. The four remained sprawled on the floor, shoes haphazardly lining the tiles of the small genkan. He had enough sense to order them to slip out of their sneakers with the logical answer that he got done polishing the floor about a week ago and wanted it to stay nice for a little longer or they were coming back to do it themselves.
These quiet times, though rare, were nice because they were always comfortable and he loved them. Whenever he was with the guys he felt different than if he was with the males of the family. It was hard to describe, but this setting never failed to make him content. The silence let his mind wander and brought up earlier, unsettled troubles. "Oi...if Jolette or Gretta didn't want to tell you something if you asked, would you ask them again if you really wanted to know?"
Chass and Robert looked over with odd looks, Kelar included. "Where'd THAT come from man??"
"What do you want to know for?"
"Exactly as I said." He muttered, leaning up on his elbows. "If there was something about Jolette or Gretta - their pasts for example - that you wanted to know rather badly, but they didn't want to tell...would you keep asking until they spilled?"
Silence met his question as the three stared at him. Finally, Rob shook his head and fell back to the boards. "I'm too confused about that to answer. You need to restate that so I get you."
Brown rolled. "It's not rocket science! It's a question about chicks!"
Robert cringed. "You're lucky Jolette isn't nearby to hear that. She's slap you silly."
Kelar smirked and made a few whipping noises in Robert's direction...where he received a lazy slap on the leg for it. He avoided the second and laughed. "I'm serious man; your woman has you whipped."
Robert scowled. "I am a free man I'll have you know...Jolette does not have my balls in the palm of her hand."
He snickered. "Except for certain days of the week?"
"DUDE!"
He laughed and rolled out of Robert's reach. "Joudan, joudan! But I was serious about that question you two. What would you do? And Kelar...with any girl you talk to."
The three quieted enough to think over a request.
Chass shrugged. "I don't push Gretta into anything she doesn't want. If I badger her, it's not that often..."
"Me either. Do you REALLY think Jolette would stand it if I forced her to tell me something she kept private? She'd have a good reason because you know she tells me quite a bit. Too MUCH sometimes..."
"I agree with Rob to an extent. If a girl doesn't want to tell me something, she normally has a reason - albeit logical only to the female mind - and I never press." Kelar grinned. "I don't get as many dates that way." The three snorted at him. "But seriously...when you get to be my age, you learn to not press women. Even if we'll never understand them by not knowing, some shit we just DON'T wanna know...you know?"
"Amen." Robert muttered, an arm over his eyes.
"Shit, you're only two years older than I am." He retorted, playfully glaring.
"Why did you wanna know Inaki?" Chass asked, head swiveling in his direction.
He gave the smallest of inaudible sighs and looked at the opposite wall. He didn't know if he wanted to tell them what'd been going on with him and K, plus the details that involved Cameron. This was his thing right here and he liked having K all to himself in that aspect. The only thing they knew about him and Cameron was they broke up; at the time it'd still been too touchy to tell details.
It kept his lives separate. He could be who he wanted in Miami with K because he was another person down there. Here, a LOT of people knew him - girls especially - and he couldn't change his image to the general public because they'd seen too much of it for a while now to believe anything else.
"Inaki? What's wrong?"
His lips pursed. He always got people involved in his life it seemed. Whether for advice or including them in some other way. Be it his sister most of the time, his family inadvertently, or his friends for questions his family could never answer to his satisfaction. But then...he did because he trusted their answers. They helped him by giving him their honest opinions and he respected them all because of that. So what was one more try, ne?
"There's a girl I know that I asked about her past recently." He mumbled, lying back on the floor. He didn't really feel like meeting their eyes when he said this...no doubt they wouldn't be pleased at having been successfully kept out of the loop for five months, as they WERE his best friends. "She guards that thing worse than my family does the store."
"You've been seeing someone??"
"How come we don't know about this?"
"More to the point, how come we haven't SEEN her yet?"
His mouth tightened. Well...not angry, but they definitely sounded irritated. "Because she doesn't live here. And I'm not seeing her - if you mean that as dating, we're only friends. And you don't know because...well...there's not a whole hell of a lot to tell."
"Doesn't LIVE here...? Where DOES she live then?"
"If you're not dating her, then how are you two friends?"
"That still doesn't explain why you didn't tell us..."
"Will you three go one at a TIME??" He nearly growled, smiling a little. He positioned himself on his elbows again, now that the worst was over with. "One - Chass, no she doesn't live here. She lives in the south. Two - Kelar, I have no idea what the hell you mean by that but you'd better do some fast explaining before I smack you again. Three - Rob, I didn't tell you all because I just didn't. I didn't even tell Cameron I knew K -" His mouth clamped shut. He wasn't stopping because he mentioned Cameron's name. He just gave away the last of K's anonymity. Hopefully if the three didn't piece the questions together from sort of meeting her so long ago, they wouldn't figure it out. Silence met him. The three were staring with unreadable faces, even in the very poor lighting. "Did something grab your tongues or what?" He retorted.
"This is a little bit of a shock is all."
Brown blinked in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"
"We didn't know you liked this girl too."
His eyes shot wide. "Say WHAT? You three have it all wrong! She's only my friend! I couldn't even date her anyway! She lives south in -" Again, he stopped and mentally berated himself. "What the fuck do you mean by liking her?? I've only known her a couple of months!"
Chass looked him dead in the eye, but smiled a little. "We've known you for YEARS Inaki. You know I've given you advice more than they have." A thumb jerked to the others. "And we all know what you get like before you date someone. When you set your mind on a girl, you get rather...what's the word...keyed up about being around her."
"No that's not it...he gets that happy light in his eyes."
"NO...he's more talkative."
Black slowly swished as his head shook in disbelief. "You have it WRONG. W R O N G! K doesn't even see me as anything more than a friend anyway! Sure she's cute and I admit that, but no way in hell would she date me!" He must've given away something from the way the three looked at each other, though he didn't see it. He knew he needed to get the topic turned to his original before they got some fucked up ideas in their heads. "But I'm not even going into that aspect because it's not an issue. I want to know about how far I should badger her before giving up. I figured I could ask you two because you both have girlfriends and probably have done that already."
Rob smiled. "The question you should ask YOURSELF is...why do you want to know so badly?"
His head jerked back a little. "I - I just - I just DO. She's my friend, I've known her for five months almost, and she hasn't said a shred of her past to me."
"And that's why you want to know? General curiosity?"
He admitted he was curious about what made up K, but he never bothered to delve deeper. "I don't think there's much else to tell. Stop looking too much into it." He retorted, uncomfortably crossing his arms.
"Inaki...if all you want to know is from general curiosity, then you wouldn't be asking this question. We know you like to go a little anal when you set your sights on something -"
"ANAL!?"
"- but if she doesn't want to tell, you have your answer already."
"I am NOT anal! What the fuck do you mean by THAT?!"
"Do you know how long it took you to get Cameron to go out with you? And in all that time, you never gave up when she shyly turned you down."
That shut him up rather fast and his heart twisted a little. 'Blitz-san...' Shunted brown looked to the far wall again as his face reflexively evened to hide his emotions.
"I think what the two dunces are trying to explain bud, is that if you want to know...you must have some ulterior motive." Kelar gently explained. "Think about why you want to know so badly. If she doesn't want to tell, accept that. But if you can't, then you'd better ask yourself how far you're willing to go to get answers from her."
He absently nodded, looking to the floor. "Ryoukai..."
"English, please?"
A foot whipped out and smacked Kelar as promised.
**I am a BEGINNER Japanese learner...so if these are not 100% correct...please let me know if you care to do so. I only have a web page to learn from, a dictionary, and a few months experience to work with.**
Translations: Hentai-Pervert Kora-Hey Michiyuki-Worn over a kimono as a coat Konban wa-Good evening Anata-tachi wa-You (plural) are...?
Watashi wa Jolette-I'm Jolette Anata-tachi no tomadachi wa koko desu-Your friends are here Minna-Everyone Bakaro wa uresai-Shut up dumbass
Hisofusan-Great grandfather Nanto anata hanashimasu...-Whatever you say... Joudan-Joking/Kidding Genkan-Entrance area/hall Sofubo-Grandparents